Sealing, rebuilding and shuffling

I left off last week saying the plan was to seal the block paving at the front of our house if the weather was good enough.

Well it was and here's the frontage swept clean and Club Triumph cones out to keep vehicles off whilst the task is completed. All our Triumphs were under the carport as they wouldn't be going anywhere and our everyday cars relocated on a neighbour's drive - thanks Andrew.

It certainly was a full day's job on Friday. After sweeping the blocks I was then down on my hands and knees scrubbing away (no jokes about being an old scrubber please!) at any bird mess and also a couple of oil deposits left by Triumphs.

Then Deana swept again just in front of me as I put the sealant on with a roller. The first coat took a long time, a good 2 1/2 hours and then we had to wait 3 hours before putting the second coat on. We both had plenty of aches and pains after that!

Moving on though, I continued on Saturday polybushing the front suspension on the convertible and fitting the uprated struts. Getting the front anti-roll bar on though was not a one man job so I waited for Bryce's help on Sunday to complete that bit.

Finally today straight out there finishing off with refitting the front brakes (no time for the upgrade which will have to wait) and finishing off all the front supsension until finally the car was back on it's own four wheels.

A quick reshuffle of the cars means BRP is right at the back (but certainly not forgotten) and UNJ is now further up the drive and nearer the road!


A little bit of tidying was called for then and here is a sight TR7 owners hope for - removing a trim panel at the base of the windscreen and finding the metal below it is in fact sound thank goodness.

I had removed it as I feared the worst because water is getting into the front nearside footwell.This can't be the reason though so further investigation will be needed.

First though I'll book the car in for MOT on Thursday and see where I go from there. I notice Jason Chinn is booking his 2.5Pi in for MOT on Thurssday too so let's hope we both have good luck.

Like the sign says!

Mind you, it's not that easy to see the sign but it says "Triumph parking only - all others will be crushed".

Well that's the entire Triumph fleet parked up under my carport so all's well then.

They'll stay there for now until I have sealed the block paving we have had done, ideally next weekend if the weather is OK. Good job it's a 4 day weekend though as there's plenty to do on the DHC just visible third in line.

Over to UNJ

As can be seen here, attention is now switched to UNJ.

A "new" strut with uprated spring and insert ready for the nearside along with polybushes on the anti rollbar.

The track arm is now with Bryce for the ball joint to be pressed out and a new one fitted whilst there will also be a new polybush for the inner end where it meets the subframe.

After it's all bolted back together I'll take the car for MOT and if there is time then I'll be replacing the rear springs, shock absorbers and polybushing it all.

The car has to be ready for the International AutoEcosse and I only have 4 more weekends to work on it - gulp!

The HCR and PMW

Pictures from car 21, Martin Randle/Sarah Johnson Triumph 2000 PMW 400H. The one above is quite atmospheric with Triumphs parked just as light fades at Widdop Reservoir (photo of sign below!)

Next photo Fewston reservoir near Harrogate on the A59.


Obviously evidence of another county through the night.

Here's getting to the half way halt at Telford! Ho ho Dale, start in Lancashire, finish near Ipswich via Telford! Oh on the sign below on the right is Sarah, not that you can see much of her! She was modelling Dale's glasses he had left on PMW right back in Kelbrook at the start.

Into the second half and a bonus point for Powis Castle.


Followed by another bonus point at a castle I had never heard of but the "courting couples" in the castle car park at 3.30 in the morning must have been really pleased with 29 Triumphs turning up and taking photos!!

And finally back at base having completed the HCR and now with a fresh MOT as well - sounds all very good doesn't it, well read on then.


To give a less upbeat view here's a clue from a post I made on the CT forum

"A big big thanks to everyone who helped us (Car 21, Randle and Johnson) on the HCR.

Due to two shagged distributors our event was going nowhere but then, and here's the roll call, the following all played their part in getting us to the start.

Dale and Andy Flexney (identified that the dizzys were well and truly shagged and started trying to build one good one out of two), Steve Thompson who brought along a Delco dizzzy and manfully worked to get it to work and then Radders who donated a Lucas 25D6 which Dave Aspinall worked on and along with Tim Bancroft who's car we needed to jump start PMW (as well as providing critical components - that's Tim, not his car!).)

Not forgetting Ellis who sorted out our rally plate when I was all for throwing things as far as I possibly could - thanks Sarah for taking me off to one side to eat something and calm down

Anyway, thanks to all these mates we got to the start, completed both gymkhanas and made it all the way round (not without a few other issues mind).

For anyone who doesn't understand why they should join this club - if they read this and still don't understand they'll never get it!"

The other "issues" were the nuts (yes both of them) working loose off the bottom of a rear shock absorber which resulted in a now familiar banging from the rear and very twitchy handling. I took the shock absorber off completely at the finish until we could get back to Sarah's where her husband Berkely had spare bushes and nuts so we could refit it. There was also a growing transmission rumble/vibration probably propshaft related and Berkeley also spotted differential mounting problems too.

Ho hum - all good stuff isn't it?

Isn't it???

Back from hols and back to PMW!

Back from holiday at 1.45 this morning but with only a week to go to the HCR I felt the need to work on PMW anyway.

So, a spanner check on the ball joint and inner track arm bush proved fine and a "feel" of the front wheels seems OK for wheel bearing play too.

Then managed to bolt up the exhaust to a bracket from the gearbox now I understand what it's there for!

Finally wired up the nearside full beams via a relay too so I am pleased with that.

Not so pleasing are modern petrol stations, or more accurately, mini supermarkets that happen to have fuel pumps attached! I just needed a side light bulb, not much to ask for but both local garages didn't stock any (or any sizable amount of motoring stuff at all). Solution for now was to rob one from one of the TR7s for PMW and I'll replace it during the week hopefully.

Doesn't get much better - a sad insight

A sad insight into the mind of a travelling sales manager!

Driving down the A34 with fuel getting a little low and also some email needing to get sent somewhere.

Cruise control at 72MPH gives 59+ mpg and 60 at one point.

Meanwhile the Tom Tom with extra "points of interest" loaded solves my 2 needs - off at a services to a Shell fuel station (where I an get air miles with my fill up) and right next to it is a McDonalds from where I am posting this using their wifi!

Now back to work.

Alot of time for what was achieved?

Well I made the Pendle and Pennine meeting as I was able with Jon's assistance to bolt the track arm back on with it's new ball joint and polybush.

Then Saturday first I painted cure rust on the inside of repair panels made for the front lower wings and on other areas of surface rust under the front end.

Then onto wiring relays in for the main beam. I followed a suggestion I had read to use links from the original connections to the headlamps to supply the feed to the relay and then back again. That means putting a link wire in for the earth and for the dip beam too.

It does mean quite a few wires though and took far longer than I expected to wire up just the offside. Then the lights wouldn't work - oh good!! It took me ages to work out I had put the wires the wrong way round at the relay. Once that was fixed it was all fine thank goodness.

Next was wiring up the second relay but I ran out of connectors to finish it all so that's still to be done with little time left really before the HCR as I am away on holiday soon as well as attending the Club Triumph dinner.

Remember the cure rust applied earlier? At the end of the day I sprayed Dinitrol all over it and into the rear of the front panel and inside of the wings so with a bit of luck that will help preserve the car.

Finally today I have done a little bit of painting and touching up all the various bits of rust spots and stone chips - again it's all about preservation of the car rather than being a question of show condition!